Posts Tagged ‘fine bohemian china czechoslovakia’

TRANSLUCENT WINE GLASS IN THE
CAMEO TECHNIQUE
Rinnan Empire, possibly isi century A.I).
Hi. 62 mm (2-44 in.)
PORTLAND VASE IN DARK AND OPAQUE
GLASS, CAMEO-CUT
Roman Empire, late isl century B.C. or early isi
century A.I). III. 245 248 mm (0-65 075 in.)
Cameo Class: This technique is a mixture
of both wheel-cutting and engraving, and
in the later period, of acid etching. This
art, certainly practised by the Romans, in
their glass-houses at Alexandria, was
brought to such perfection between the 1st
century B.C. and 1st century A.D. that
glasses like the Portland Vase could be
produced. It is possibly the most dramatic
form of abraded decoration on a vessel. At
least two layers of differently coloured
glasses were needed for vessels of cameo
glass. These would be carved through to
the under-layers by the lapidary’s wheel.
Roman cameo glass (also called verre
double) was usually made up of translucent
white glass cased on to a darker ground of
blue glass, which was then carved with
ornamental designs or mythological or
genre scenes. The scene depicted on the
blue and white glass cup illustrated is a
mythological scene devoted to the worship
of Priapus, a fertility god.
Roman cameos form only a small group of
Roman glass products, bui they rank high
amongst the achievements of the great
glass-makers of this period. Possibly the
most famous of all Roman cameos is the
Portland vase, said to have been found in
1582 in a sarcophagus on the Appian Way
near Rome. It was bought by the British
Museum from the Duke of Portland in
1045. To make it, two gathers of glass, one
cobalt blue, one opaque white, were fused
together and probably blown and shaped
as one. This would have to have been very
carefully annealed (cooled under con-
trolled conditions), for if the rate of
cooling on cither face was even slightly
different, the glass would shatter. When
annealed, the glass would have been
marked with the desired decoration, and
the larger unwanted areas of white glass
ground away with heavy wheel abrasion to
the blue underneath.
OVAIL CAMEO (WITH A DEMONSTRATION OF HOW IT
WAS MADE)
Roman Empire, 41b century A.D.
Ht. 41 mm (163 in.)
The delicate work necessary to finish off
the figures on a cameo would probably
have been accomplished with fine wheel
abrasion, since even at this early period it
was possible for wheels the size of a
pinhead to be made for fine work. The
manner of carving was very much akin to
the carving of a layered gem-stone such as
onyx or banded agate. The changes in
thickness of the opaque or translucent
white glass layer brought about by the
differences in the depth of the carving
produced subtle tonal variations. The
illustration shows the various stages a
Roman glass-maker would go through to
produce the cameo of a youth’s head and
shoulders. First the two layers of glass
were fused together, then the oval shape
cut out; the main areas of white which
were not needed were then removed, then
the finer details were filled in.
FI.ASK WITH CAMEO CUT DECORATION
Persia, oth-iolh century A.D. Ht. 150 mm (59 in.)
Between the period of Roman cameo-
working to the great revival of the tech-
nique in the 19th century, it is often
assumed that no such work was carried
out. This is not quite the case, for cameo
glass was certainly made in Egypt and
Persia in the 9th and 10th cerituries A.D.
Complete pieces have been found from
those countries, and fragments of cameo
glass of the same period have been found
in Samarra. The overlay glass is either
coloured green or blue. The flask illus-
trated is an outstanding example of Persian
camco-cut work. It is in colourless glass,
cased with green depicting the form of a
hare, the articulation of the joints being
cut away to the colourless glass beneath.
This cameo glass formed part of the school
of relief-cutting which flourished in Persia
and probably Mesopotamia in the 9th and
10th centuries. Cameo glass was also
produced in China well before the 19th
century.
John Northwood, born in Stourbridge,
England, in 1837, was the first, and lead-
ing, exponent in England of the art of
cameo glass. After completing his famous
relief-carved ‘Elgin’ vase, he was commis-
sioned by Phillip Pargeter of the Red
House Glassworks near Stourbridge to
produce a copy of the Portland vase. He
did this successfully, and followed it up by
producing his ‘Milton’ vase and later his
famous ‘Pegasus’ or ‘Dennis’ vase, com-
missioned by Thomas Wilkes Webb,
which is illustrated here. Members of the
Northwood School included his own son
John II, who produced works in the
cameo technique. During the early years
of English cameo glass, (.1870 to 1880,
pieces were carved mainly with hand
tools, and each was normally the work of
an individual artist. To supply public
demand a quicker method for production
had to be found and thus the engraving
wheel came to be used, and the production
became a co-operation between designer,
etcher and engraver.
This new ‘commercial’ production of
English cameo glass lasted roughly from
1880 to 1890, and on the whole the results
tended to be good. Stevens 8c Williams of
Brierley Hill and Thomas Webb & Sons
of Stourbridge produced the greatest
amount of cameo work in this period.
Besides the John Northwood school there
existed a second school of cameo glass
artists at the firm of Hodgetts, Richardson
& Company of Wordsley. The two most
important artists there were Alphonse
Lechevrel and Joseph Locke. Alphonse
Lechevrel, a Frenchman, was taken on by
the firm to instruct a small group of men
in the art of carving glass cameos and was
one of the first to follow John Northwood
in this difficult technique. Lechevrel had
already made his name as a medalist, and
had a good grounding in figure, floral and
geometric designs. A few of his pieces of
cameo glass survive, including the vase
illustrated.
CAMEO GLASS VASE, RUBY BODY
Ctrved by Joseph Locke, New England Glass
Company, U.S.A., c. iMg
Alphonse Lechevrel’s most promising
pupil was Joseph Locke, a perfectionist in
whatever medium he attempted, an accom-
plished glass technologist, a finished pain-
ter, engraver, etcher, sculptor and inven-
tor. When eventually he came to be
employed by Hodgetts, Richardson &
Company he produced his masterpiece,
the second copy of the Portland vase in
cameo glass, exhibited at the Paris Exhibi-
tion in 1878, where it won the Gold Medal
Award. Locke left Hodgetts, Richardson
& Company to work for Phillip Pargcter of
the Red House Glassworks, who had the
Northwood version of the Portland vase.
He went on to Webb & Corbetts, and then
left lor America in 1882 where he joined
the New England Glass Company of
Cambridge, Mass. Hecontinued his cameo
work in America, the vase illustrated being
an example of his work there. Occasionally
he used enamelling to embellish his cameo
work still further.
Carved by George Woodall, late 19th century
Ht. 220 mm (9 in.)
The brothers George and Thomas Woodall
had the good fortune to receive their early
training in cameo work from John North-
wood. Both were engaged by the firm of
Thomas Webb & Sons of Stourbridge to
work exclusively on cameo glass. The
Woodall school is noted for being by far
the most productive of the three schools
of English cameo glass. George had a
natural talent for figure composition, as
did his brother, though Tom seemed to
prefer decorative and floral patterns and
often executed the borders on their joint
works, usually signed ‘T & G Woodall’.
The early works of George Woodall were
mainly hand-carved, and his later pieces
mostly worked on the engraver’s wheel.
Much cameo glass was produced under
his direction by a large group of workers.
Tom and George Woodall and James
O’Fallon were the designers, though some
of their workers were quite capable of
producing and executing their own de-
signs.
‘lace-de-boheme’ cameo glass vase
Bohemia, (.1885. lit. 229 mm (9in.)
Most of the English cameo glass produced
between 1880 and 1890 was destined for
the American market. After 1890 demand
for this tine work dropped, because of the
influx of cheap imitation cameo work on
to the market. These cheaper pieces were
made by giving the glass a thin opal casing
and then applying the pattern to this
casing with acid-resisting ink; the article
was then plunged into a hydrofluoric acid
bath, which dissolved away all parts of the
casing not protected by the acid-resisting
ink. Thus an article was easily made with
a flat opal glass design in very shallow-
relief on a coloured background. Still
cheaper imitations came with ‘Florentine
Art Cameo’, and i.ace-dc-Boheme Cam-
eo’ made in Bohemia, which was simply
heavy white enamelling, often copying
English cameo designs, on a coloured or
satin glass body. ‘Mary Gregory’ glass,
described in the enamelling section, was
also a cheaper imitation of cameo work.
CAMEO GLASS VASE IMITATING  CARVED IVORY
WITH APPLIED GLASS WINDOW’S
Designed by Kretschman and decorated in gold and
enamel by Jules Barbc, Thomas Webb & Sons,
Kngland, 1-.1887
Thomas Webb & Sons of Stourbridge,
England, were the sole producers of a
novelty-type cameo glass which was made
in imitation of old carved ivory. Thomas
Wilkes Webb patented the process in 1887
and in the U.S.A. in 1889. An article made
of ivory coloured or opaque white glass
was etched with a shallow relief design,
which was deepened with an engraving
wheel. The design produced was wiped
clean and then rubbed with a brown or
other coloured stain; the stain made a dark
tint in the recesses of the design, and was
also apparent on the high points of the
design. The result made a piece of’cameo’
glass which looked like old carved ivory.
‘Tom and George Woodall used Oriental
and East Indian objets d’art as models for
this technique, and other members of the
Woodall team, Jules Barbc, Jacob Facer
and Nash, produced designs for this ware.
Both Stevens & Williams of Brierley Hill
and Thomas Webb & Sons of Stourbridge,
England, produced a glassware which was
known as ‘Dolce Relievo’ or ’soft relief. A
gather of clear coloured glass was picked
up on a first gathering of opaque white or
ivory-coloured glass, and the article was
fashioned in the normal way. When the
object had cooled, a design was painted on
the outer coloured glass, which was care-
fully etched away. This left various shad-
ings in shallow relief on the white or ivory
background. Any merit that the piece may
have depends entirely on the original
beauty of the design and on the skill of the
etcher. The vase illustrated, made at
Stevens & Williams, is one of the better
examples of the technique. Thomas Webb
& Sons were also responsible for cameo
glass pieces made to imitate 18th-century
Apart from beads, decorative plaques and
models of animals, very little glass was
made in China before the 5th century A.D.
As already mentioned, it is thought that
the secrets of glass-making were brought
to (ihina from the West in A.D. 435. Little
is known of Chinese glass-making during
the Sung and Ming periods. During the
Ch’ing period a glass workshop was
established in Peking in 1680 under the
patronage of the Kmperor K’afig Hsi, and
cameo-cut glass was featured amongst its
products. The most prolific period of
Chinese glass-making, however, comes in
the reign of the Kmperor Ch’ien Lung
(1735-95). The bottle illustrated is thought
to have come from this period, being in
opaque white glass with an overlay of red
glass depicting mounted warriors, build-
ings and nobles in a stage-like setting. The
effect of layered onyx or other semi-
precious stone was thus simulated, for the
Chinese seemed to be only interested in
glass in so far as it imitated more precious
materials.
CAMEO GLASS VASE IN PINK AND WHITE OPAQUE GLASS
Ml. Washington Glass Company, U.S.A., late
iQth century. Ht. 121 mm (475 in.)
Production of cameo glass in the U.S.A. in
this period was limited, not for lack of
expertise, but because of the high cost of
production. A great deal of English cameo
glass was of course being imported to the
States. However, some was made there,
the example shown being a pink and white
cameo of the Mt. Washington Glass
Company, New Bedford, Mass. The firm
also made blue and white cameo glass,
using the same relatively few patterns for
both. The outline of the ‘cameo’ decora-
tion is finely etched, but there any
resemblance to English cameo work ends,
for the decoration is produced solely by
the use of acid, and the effect of the design
is rather flat. On the other hand, some very
notable cameo work was produced in
America by the firm of Louis Comfort
Tiffany with Arthur J. Nash. Frederick
Carder certainly made traditional cameo
glass objects in England, and later, when
he worked in the U.S.A. he invented
Steuben ‘Acid Cutback’ glass, which is
allied to the cameo technique.
CAMEO GLASS VASE
Venice, Italy, last quarter of 10th century
Cameo glass was produced in Venice in the
late 19th century. It is not known who
produced these pieces, but their chief
characteristic is that they are made of
Venetian soda-lime metal, as opposed to
the heavy lead glass of English cameo
glass. This lighter glass, when used for
both the inner and outer layers of the
objects, gives the carving of the cameo a
more delicate but less distinct appearance.
Small details such as the carving of faces
were not easily achieved with the more
brittle metal. These pieces, all apparently
carved by the same artist, are in deep blue
glass cased by white opal glass. They
attempt to copy some of the ancient
Roman cameos, including the Portland
vase. Small alabastrons, vases, large and
small cups and saucers are copied from
ancient examples. The owners of the
cameos, Pauly & Cie of Venice, produced
a few pieces of cameo engraving on leftover
blanks from the late 19th century.
VASE IN CAMEO GLASS
Kmilc Galle, Nancy, France, end of ihe iqth century
I It 44S mm (17-63 in.)
French cameo glass has en entirely different
artistic feel from that of the meticulously
engraved English type. The French glass-
makers used acid etching to engrave their
designs on to blanks of cased coloured
glass, in a style originally intended to copy
oriental models. Emile Galle (1846 1004)
was the most prominent figure in the
production of French cameo glass. He
learned his trade at Mcisenthal, and then
had a more formal art education in Weimar,
followed by studies in the major museums
of London and Paris. He established his
own workshop for glass decoration in 1867.
With his father he began the regular
production of art glass in Nancy in 1874,
and continued until his death in 1004.
Strongly influenced by the art of Japan, he
took as his favourite subjects flowers,
insects and landscape designs, in contrast
to the figure subjects favoured by English
artists for cameo glass.
CASED-GLASS CAMEO VASE IN AUBERGINE,
WHITE
By Emile Galle, Nancy, France, iSgo 1000
The smaller details on Gallc’s cameo glass
were finished off on the engraving wheel.
The majority of his cased glass vases, with
a decoration of flowers and leaves, date
from after 1890. So-called ’standard Galle’
vases with conventional Art Nouveau
flower patterns in one colour against an
opaque white background as illustrated arc-
probably factory products, rather than
Galle’s personal handiwork. It is very rare
to find two identical pieces among the
massive output of his factory. Like most
French glass-makers of this period, he
usually signed his work. Even after his
death, when the factory continued under
the direction of Victor Prouve, the pro-
ducts were still signed ‘Galle’, hut a star
preceded the name, and production in
Gallc’s style certainly continued until
1913. Closest to Galle’s work came the
products of the firm of Daum in Nancy;
this concern was established by Jean
Daum Urol hers, Nancy, Franee, c. 1895
Jean Daum’s two sons, Auguste and
Antonin, were personally influenced in
glass-making by Emile Galle. They soon
(V.i890) began to produce articles decor-
ated with flowers and leaves in cased glass,
using on their works a monogram incor-
porating the Cross of Lorraine. Their
early productions of Art Nouveau glass
were very fine, and they continued to make
art glass until the First World War, but
their later work is of much poorer quality.
Once Galle died, his inspiration seemed to
die with him. Other makers of cameo glass
in Galle’s style were the factory of Lunc-
ville, near Nancy, and also Sevres, which
produced the designs of the firm of
Landier et Fils. Other lesser-known
workers in French cameo glass were De
Vez, Le Gras, Andre De Lattc, Edward
Michel, M. Walter, Alphonse G. Reyen,
Tessire du Motay, Kessler and Mareschal.
The technique of French cameo glass was
copied by many countries in Europe.
i \MH) glass vasi in KM) imhiiihu 111 ysn
By Tiffany, U.S.A., late i<)th century/early 20th
century. Hi. 146 mm (575 in.)
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) joined
forces on a shareholding basis with Arthur
J. Nash, an English glass-maker, and other
investors. Nash later brought in his sons
A. Douglas and Leslie Nash. They oper-
ated the factory at Corona, Long Island,
New York, known as Tiffany Furnaces,
and later as Louis C. Tiffany Furnaces
Inc. When Tiffany left in 1924, it became
the A. Douglas Nash Co. Tiffany products
owed much to L. C. Tiffany from 1 he-
design point of view, but it was the Nashs’
practical knowledge of glass-making that
made them technically outstanding. One
of the products that must be mentioned
here is their cameo glass, which generally
consisted of two or more layers of glass.
The designs were painted on in acid-
resistant materials, then the object was
plunged into an acid bath, which revealed
the under layer or layers. The design was
finished off with engraving and polishing
tools.
VASE IN ‘ACID CUTBACK’
By Frederick Carder, Steuben Glass Works,
U.S.A., early 20th century. III. 305 mm (12 in.)
Frederick Clarder of the Steuben Glass
Works, Corning, New York, established
an etching room for glass at the works in
about 1006. He was familiar with the
etching process in connection with cameo
glass from his Stevens & Williams days in
Kngland, and he carved his cameo plaque
‘The Immortality of the Arts’ while
working under the tutelage of John North-
wood. Until about 1932 Carder produced
at Steuben a cameo-type glass which is
called ‘Acid Cutback’ by collectors. The
design was transferred to the glass by
means of a print made on paper in a ‘wax
ink’. The area of the glass not covered with
the pattern was painted with wax, to
protect it from the etching acid. The glass
was left in the acid bath for the time
required to etch the designs to the desired
depth. Two layers of glass were normally
used, the darker colour most frequently
being the outer layer, though occasionally
single-layer pieces were made.
COLOURLESS GLASS WITH CUT
DECORATION
Ireland, late iSth century. Ht. 13(1 mm (538 in.)
(See also colour photograph 21)
Cut Glass: To most people the term means
the type of deep wheel-cutting used on
Irish glass from the late 18th century
onwards, and also on modern cut wine-
glasses and containers. The popularity of
today’s cut-glass products is a legacy of the
great popularity this type of glassware
enjoyed in Kngland and America during
the 19th century. In this style of decoration
angular cuts are made into the vessel
which, when polished, act as prisms with
adjacent cuts, giving a very brilliant effect.
The glass blank would first be marked
with the pattern, a mixture such as white-
lead and gum water being used. Following
the design, deep cuts would be roughed in
against an iron wheel fed with abrasive
such as sand. Water-cooled stone wheels
which need no abrasive might be used to
add fine lines. The cuts could then be
polished by lead or wooden wheels, or,
after the second half of the 19th century,
by plunging the vessel into a mixture of
hydrofluoric acid and sulphuric acid.
waisted bowl in clear, colouri j.s.s glass, stained decanter in cut glass with mushroom stopper
yellow, vviiti cut decoration England, about 1820. Ht. 241 mm (0-5 in.)
Ireland, 1.1820-30. Diam. 143 mm (563 in.)
The years 1780 to about 1835 can be
described as the period of freedom for
Irish glass-making, when the trade was
unfettered by any serious restraints. It was
during this period that some of the most
notable work in cut glass was produced in
Ireland. The principal glass-house cities
were Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Belfast.
The common belief that Waterford glass
has a blue tint is entirely wrong; some
glasses made on the Continent in imitation
of the Waterford style are markedly blue
in colour, but the original Waterford glass
is clear and colourless. Objects made
included barrel-shaped and straight-sided
decanters, bowls and vases, often with a
turned-over rim and a domed foot, covered
bowls and jars with button finials, urns,
kettle-drum bowls, plates, bowls and
stands, ewers with swan neck handles, jugs
with rounded bodies, and serving dishes.
The cut decoration was mostly done by
English craftsmen, who emigrated to
Ireland after Free Trade had been de-
clared in 1780.
The historical impact of early 19th century
English cut glass can be compared to the
influence on glass-making that Venice had
in the 16th century or to that of the
engraved glass of Central Europe in the
17th and 18th centuries. The inability of
the Venetians, with their lighter soda-lime
metal, to copy cut glass led to their eclipse
as the main glass-making centre at this
period. The success of the French and
Belgian factories in copying English cut
glass was a main cause for their develop-
ment in the first half of the 19th century.
The United States of America quickly
took to cut glass, and even in Central
Europe the style could only be partially
resisted. Mitre-cutting, or the cutting of
V-section grooves into glass, was the
characteristic Regency style. The decan-
ters, like the illustrated one, were mostly
barrel-shaped, with rings applied to their
necks, and usually with ‘mushroom’-
shaped stoppers.
Kngland. probably the 1820’s. lit. 89 mm (3-5 in.)
in m dish i\ tit GLASS
Kngland. about 1820. Length 219 mm (8-6? in.)
The V-section grooves of the mitre-cutting
were usually in straight lines. The main
decoration on the glass was caused by the
intersection of these grooves at ninety or
forty-five degrees. The simplest decora-
tion, when the grooves met at ninety
degrees, was the production of a field ol
plain ‘diamonds’ or small pyramids of
glass. There were many variants of this
sort of decoration, but one of the most
popular was the field of intricate ’straw-
berry diamonds’ found on so many pieces.
The bowl illustrated is a typical example.
Since the middle of the iSth century the
geometrical cutting of the soft English
lead glass had absorbed many glass decora-
tors, but it was the styles of the early 19th
century that were to establish its lasting
popularity. Regency cut glass was in fact a
logical technical development from the
shallow facetted glass of the mid-i8th
century.
Regency cut glass subordinated the shape
of the vessel to the decoration. Its solidity
and sparkling appearance reflected the
ostentation that was prevalent in all the art
forms of the British Regency and Con-
tinental Empire styles. In addition to the
square-cut patterns, other designs on
vessels involved the use of radiating cuts.
Usually the base would be ’star-cut’, and
the edge of the vessel might have ‘fan-
cutting’ on each of a scries of semi-circular
projections. This can be seen in the oval
cut-glass dish illustrated. It is strange that
this style of decoration, which needed such
thick glass for its execution, should coin-
cide with the period of the Glass Excise.
Between 1745 and 1845 the various
governments sought to gain revenue by
taxing the glass output in England.
Strangely enough, the effect of the Excise
seemed to be the concentration of all the
glass-makers upon one current style of
clear glass with cut decoration.
The Techniques of Taking Away
Early 19th-century glass shapes can norm-
ally be distinguished from their late 18th-
century forerunners by their heaviness and
formality. The cut decoration was more
often arranged horizontally than vertically.
This is apparent on the cut-glass dish with
cover that is illustrated. It has generally-
been assumed that most cut glass was
made in Ireland, where until the mid-
1820’s there was no Glass Excise tax. This
cannot in fact be true, since there were
never more than ten factories in Ireland
producing decorative glass, whereas in
England they numbered about fifty. Apart
from a few special cases, it is virtually
impossible to distinguish between English
and Irish glass on the grounds of style or
of the glass used. When the Excise was
introduced into Ireland in 1825, that
country was producing Ј20,000 worth a
year of flint glass, compared with over
Ј20,000 worth in Scotland and Ј170,000
worth in England.
The tendency to call all cut glass ‘Irish’ or
‘Waterford’ probably reflects the way
research has been made into the subject.
Much has been written on the history of
the Irish factories in the early 19th
century, but very little has been done on
the much wider field of English cut glass
in this period. Wine-glasses or ‘rummers’
of the early 19th century in England
usually had convex or straight-sided bowls.
Short bucket shapes were common, as
well as the taller flute shape illustrated.
Stems were short, often with disc-shaped
knops. The intersecting mitre cutting used
so much on other vessels was considered
unsuitable for drinking glasses, so their
decoration usually consisted of flat vertical
facets towards the lower part of the bowl.
Jugs had become a popular form of glass-
ware but in Regency times they tended to
copy pottery shapes and did not have the
fluidity of form of true glass art.

CUPBOARDS AND SIDE TABLES
It is a rather curious reflection that so many years should have passed without men having devised any means of locking things away privately except in a chest. It tells its own story, that they should have preferred to use something which could be used conveniently for travelling. Once they came to establish their homes on a more convenient basis, however, the necessity for cabinets to hold valuable or private papers, and cupboards to store various other items became felt. Thus wall furniture became increasingly common.
The early form of side table is given in Fig. 26, a piece dating from about I Soo or soon after. It is virtually a chest, with the corner posts continued downwards to raise it well up from the floor. This was probably its origin. Not that a man, having a chest, would decide that by lengthening the posts he could evolve a sideboard, but that the method of construction was automatically adopted once the idea of a sideboard was thought about. There was probably a subconscious connection between the two ideas, so that it is likely that there was a direct evolution from one to the other. The side table exemplifies the use of the pierced panel, and another point that will appeal to practical readers is the use of the ” mason’s mitre ” in the moulding surrounding the panel. The use of this is explained more fully on p. 44•
Another kind of furniture of the early Tudor Gothic period was the cupboard pure and simple as shown in Fig. 27. It is of the simplest possible construction, consisting of so many boards pegged together and held by the angle plates and strap hinges. Often such cupboards had panels pierced with Gothic tracery designs such as those given on p. IS. In fact A is taken from an old cupboard of the kind. Their purpose was probably to hold food, as the pierced panels gave ventilation.
Of a similar type, but of infinitely better construction, is the cupboard shown in Fig. 28. In place of the planks is a framing of four posts, joined by rails with grooves around their edges to hold panels. Here the last-named are pierced and carved in the form of Gothic windows.
The Court Cupboard.—The development in Elizabethan times is shown in the Court cupboard in Fig. 29. This is worthy of a few moments’ attention because it contains many typical features of the period. It was a cupboard which became extremely popular, probably because it gave good accommodation and there was excellent scope for decorative treatment. Note first the lower doors with their three-panel arrangement. Apart from strength, this had the advantage of keeping the panel width down, and so saving the necessity of jointing up. The framing is channel-moulded ; that is a shallow groove moulded at the sides is worked along the centre of each member.
Incidentally, whilst on the subject of mouldings, it should be noted that in every case they are worked ” in the solid,” the substance of the framing being moulded. It is mentioned here in particular because it will be seen in the next chapter that the tendency in the following century was to use applied mouldings instead.
Attention has already been drawn to the bulbous turnings and their elaborate carving, Fig. 29, and we may now turn to the upper cupboard portion with its sloping sides. It was probably the desire to make space for the bulbous turnings that prompted the cutting away of the cupboard, and at the same time to provide a useful standing space at each side. It will be found that when, later, turning began to decline, the upper cupboard became rectangular in shape, being just set back a few inches from the line of the lower cupboard. Eventually the turnings disappeared almost entirely, being replaced by single drop turnings—but of this we shall see more in the following chapter. It is mentioned here because it helps to explain the reason for the shape of the upper cupboard. The carving in the frieze is a typical Elizabethan detail which continued into the seventeenth century.
BEDSTEADS
Sleeping arrangements in the early years were of the simplest and most primitive form for everyone except the chief persons in the household. The fifteenth century saw considerable improvements in this respect, though it was not until the next century that beds became at all common. There were two kinds, the panelled head and foot (very like the modern form of wood bed), and the four-poster. The last-named developed into a really amazing structure in the time of Elizabeth. That the rooms were abominably draughty is the probable reason for its popularity. The tester or panelling above the bed was hung all round with curtains, so that the sleeper was literally lying in a little room built within the main bedroom. It must have been close and unhealthy, but presumably people preferred that to draughts.
That great importance was attached to these bedsteads is shown by the frequent reference made to them in old wills, and in view of the amount of work put into them they must have been costly things to produce. That in Fig. 31 contains features found in most old beds. Note that the bed frame itself is separate at the foot from the front posts. This was usual in Elizabethan beds, though towards the end of the century the tendency was to join them up.
Figs. 32, 33, and 34 will prove of particular interest to practical cabinet makers and draughtsmen, though they are well worthy of the attention of all students because the sections of mouldings and carved details are extremely important factors when dating a period piece.

TABLES
The table is a fairly obvious piece of furniture. It is required for all kinds of purposes in the house, though its chief function is for use when dining. One of the earliest surviving specimens are the huge trestle tables at Penshurst Hall, Kent. They date from the fourteenth century, when it was still the custom for the entire household to dine together in the great hall. One would be placed across the upper end of the hall, usually on a raised dais, and another, or sometimes two, at right angles to it, going lengthwise along the hall. The more important guests used the raisedThe tendency to use a framed-up construction already mentioned in connection with the chest is seen in the next stage of the table, when an underframing of four or six legs joined by rails (such as in the present-day table) was used. There stands in the museum at South Kensington an interesting table dating from the opening years of the sixteenth century. It has square legs with the corners chamfered, and the top rails are shaped on the underside with the Gothic arch formation. The long form in Fig. ig has this shaping—in fact it is a companion to the table of which we are speaking. Its most interesting feature, however, is that it is of the ” draw ” type ; that is, it is provided with extending leaves which, contained beneath the top when not required, can be drawn out, so increasing the size of the top considerably. As a matter of passing interest, this type of table has again become popular at the present time ; indeed, few extending tables are made now which have not this method of extension.
Bulbous Turnings.—The draw table of the Elizabethan period is shown in Fig. 23, and the feature that at once strikes one are the heavy bulbous legs. These represent a fashion in turning that had the most amazing popularity in Elizabethan times and in the first half of the seventeenth century. Turning had been introduced in this country during the sixteenth century, though it does not appear to have been widely used until about the middle of the century. One imagines that the turners, having acquired the technique, decided to make the most of what they had learnt, for there is nothing really logical about such disproportionate legs. The strength of the leg is governed by its thinnest part, so that the heavy bulbous part is entirely wasted from the constructional point of view.
In the particular table shown in Fig. 23 the legs are plain, direct from the lathe, but in most cases they were elaborately carved with nullings, scrolled acanthus leafwork, and other details, as shown on the turnings in the Court cupboard in Fig. 29. Possibly this is another reason why they appealed to the Elizabethans ; they offered such scope for decorative detail.
In most cases the stretcher rails ran round the four sides of the table in the same way as the rails at the top, but occasionally the H arrangement in Fig. 23 is found. In one, and the retainers were accommodated at the others in rotation, the serfs sitting at the lower end.
These trestle tables were generally made with movable tops, so that they could be taken to pieces and stored away when the floor space was required to be cleared. They were extremely massive in build, with tops of 4 in. or so in thickness, supported by heavy trestles or pedestals. The illus-BUFFET WITH BULBOUS TURNINGS.
Late 16th century.
Thiswas the Elizabethan form of sideboard. The modern dinner wagon
is of similar formation. Often a drawer was fitted beneath the top, the
rail acting as the drawer front.
tration of the hall at Penshurst Place on p. 12 shows these tables.
When as the years passed men sought more privacy there arose a demand for smaller tables which could be used in the smaller private room in which the family took their meals. The rise, too, of the merchant class brought about the erection of vast numbers of smaller houses, and so there have survived a fair number of smaller tables dating from the sixteenth century. The term ” smaller ” is used com-paratively. Actually they usually measure 6 ft. to 9 ft. or io ft. in length.
At the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the next the Gothic tradition was still strong, and tables
FIG. 31. FOUR-POSTER WITH PANELLED HEAD AND TESTER.
Second half 16th century.
These were extremely massive structures and were held in great value.
They were often specifically mentioned in wills. Note the holes in the
bed frame to support the mattress and clothes.
were often still of the trestle kind shown in Fig. 22. It will be noted that the rails are held to the trestles with wedges, so that the whole thing could be stacked away when not required in use. It is interesting to compare the Gothic shaping of the trestles with that of the small stool in Fig. 20.other types two legs only were used, these being built into the centre of the end rails and fitted with cross pieces at the bottom, and were a revival of the pedestal leg used in Gothic times, as exemplified by the Penshurst table on p. 12, except that the bottom was joined by a stretcher and the top had a framing to contain the mechanism of the extension.

ELIZABETHAN
COURT CUPBOARD.
Late z61h century.
love of Elizabethan crafts. This exemplifies well the men for ornament of every
kind. The upper recessed portion is inlaid with various woods such as apple, holly, cherry, bog oak, and stained woods. The carving is typical of
the time, being virile, deep and bold if somewhat barbaric in execution.